Kentucky, Keokuk, and More Leg Procedures

In the fall we were moved to Louisville, Ky., where we were placed in large wooden buildings.  While there my hair all came out and left me bald, then it grew in very slowly and was gray.  My amputated leg was healed up but the right leg was still very sore and lame.  I tried hard to walk, but could not.

Here the health of the men was far better than it was at Nashville, and there were but few deaths.  Late in the fall the Iowa men were sent to Keokuk, Iowa where we were placed in the medical college.  In January, 1865, Dr. M. K. Taylor in presence of his class of medical students placed me upon the operating table and removed a fragment of bone four inches long which should have been removed long before.  Several smaller pieces had been removed from time to time, but this largest one was left to the last; then the leg got better so I could walk on crutches, but was still very lame.

Then in March’65 gangrene  started in the wound and reached to the bone and about an inch in diameter..  I was laid up for the repair and couldn’t eat while the gangrene burned out with nitric acid.  This was very painful.  I had to lie on my right side to keep the acid in the wound and when I got so tired I could not endure it any longer I turned on my back and the acid run out and burned to skin about two inches around the wound.  After a few days the dead flesh came out and the wound began to heal up once more but it wouldn’t heal up entirely, a small matter showing that there was still some obstruction in it.

In June the men with amputated legs were sent to Chicago to have wooden legs fitted.  In August Dr. Merriman opened my leg to try and remove the obstruction and succeeded in removing about one-half of a large bullet one side of which showed creases of the gun; the other side split off and gone.  This showed that the bullet had split in two  on the bone, one half going on through the other half lodged in the bone.  While the doctor was digging out that bullet I sat in a chair watching the operation.  The pain was nothing compared with what I had to endure many times before.  After this the wound healed slowly.  We got our wooden legs and were sent to Davenport, Iowa.  While at Davenport my health and strength improved and I did considerable work, cooking, washing, cleaning house, etc. But my hair was still gray and the knee would bend but little, so I could not step over anything more than four inches high.

Next Week: Coming Home at Last